We know that on Tuesday night at the Garden with their very essence in question, the Rangers played their best game of the year when anything less would not have gotten the job done against Montreal in Game 4.

And we know they will have to be even better than that in Game 5 on Thursday, and better than that in Game 6 at home Saturday, and should it be necessary, much better than that in a potential Game 7 right here on Monday.

The teams that make it to the finish line are the ones that improve over the course of a season. Alain Vigneault has preached that on an almost weekly basis since taking over behind the New York bench in 2013-14. This team did not improve from beginning to end. Indeed, the Blueshirts regressed in almost every aspect of the game.

And so entering Tuesday in the aftermath of Sunday’s Game 3 debacle, it wasn’t at all clear that the Rangers had it in them to elevate the way they did in that 2-1 victory that squared this opening round at two-all.

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But they did in rising to the occasion and elevating their game to a standard the Rangers had not reached since Game 6 of the Tampa Bay conference finals in 2015. They played with heart, with courage, and with brainpower and with no tin men, scarecrows or cowardly lions among them.

And, critically, the Rangers played with the puck in the Montreal zone, getting the puck in deep, off which the Blueshirts could cycle and ultimately force the Canadiens to come 200 feet through opposition. Thus, the Blueshirts owned an advantage in shot-attempt based possession stats for the first time, 54-39 in their favor after being on the short end of 48-45 in Game 3, 85-59 in nearly 78:34 of Game 2, and 48-45 in the opener.

And now they are going to have to do it again and again and, if it comes to it, again.

The Rangers are going to have to find the same balance between being physical and playing fast as they did in Game 4, but they must be sharper still with the puck and adopt even more of a shooting mentality while being more dedicated to creating traffic in front of Carey Price.

That means Chris Kreider will need to stop tiptoeing around Price’s crease as if it is an active minefield. If the officials call one on Kreider off reputation, then so be it, but if No. 20 is going to be defeated, let it be by the goaltender and not by a referee.

Ryan McDonagh played with a mean edge through Game 4 and so did Marc Staal, more assertive than he has been since returning from his third recorded concussion following the All-Star Game. Indeed, McDonagh and Staal each gave more than they got in physical confrontations with Alexander Radulov, who sure has tried to impose his will on the Blueshirts in this series.

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You — and general manager Jeff Gorton — have to love the compete level and snarl with which Brendan Smith has played. The pending unrestricted free agent obtained from Detroit as rental in exchange for a second and third is exactly what the Rangers need. The price to keep Smith, however, will be steep off of what is becoming a cash-register first-round for the 28-year-old, who began to get a more prominent and appropriate matchup role from Vigneault as Game 4 evolved.

The Rangers still need to exploit what should be an edge in the middle. Kevin Hayes, who engaged all Game 4 and even played angry hockey, can do a better job of getting pucks to the net. Derek Stepan needs to be crisper in his decision-making and execution. Mika Zibanejad, who was much more decisive and involved in Game 4, needs to be sharper. Meanwhile, Oscar Lindberg, who is becoming a more credible candidate to become Vegas’ second-line center with every shift he takes, just needs to keep doing that thing he’s been doing.

One thing to note here: Vigneault used Zibanejad (and mates Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich) as his fourth-line match much of the way. It will be interesting to see whether Montreal coach Claude Julien will allow that at home.

The power play still has not scored. The room for improvement there is obvious. But improvement across the board is required for the Rangers to win twice more in this series. We know what they did on Tuesday. Now they have to do it again and again.